Morning Call with You (Coyhaique, First Week), December 8, 2025

Your first weekly call from Coyhaique. You arrived earlier in the week with Hermana Juncker (your greenie, from Highland, Utah - practically neighbors). The journey was harrowing: you had to navigate to a city you'd never been to without WiFi, find a backpack and pants for Juncker at a mall you couldn't locate, find the apartment, and act like you knew what you were doing the whole time so Juncker wouldn't panic. Juncker was happy and unaware. The first few days Juncker didn't want to talk at all, so you taught every lesson and did every contact - and lost your voice. The cold compounded the stress. By call time you sounded "like a 12-year-old boy going through puberty."

Hermana Juncker, on camera

You pulled Juncker into frame and introduced her to me. Juncker is from Highland, Utah - practically a neighbor. Your read on her after a few days:

• "She's amazing. Her Spanish is so good - she'll never admit it, but her Spanish is cracked."
• "She's like almost exactly the same as Danica. She just looks like a popular girl."
• She loves doing street contacts.
• Fresh out of high school. Never lived on her own. You are teaching her how to live on her own in addition to how to be a missionary.

The training stress: Juncker is reluctant to speak Spanish even with you at home (where you agreed to speak Spanish for her learning). She'll attempt one person in the morning planning while you do everyone else; she takes as long for one as you do for the rest. You felt like "the worst trainer" because you haven't done morning exercise even though it's in the schedule. My pushback: give yourself grace, this is everyone's first time at everything; perfection comes after you're dead.

The arrival story

The transfer journey from Puerto Montt to Coyhaique:

• You had a cold from before you left, sore throat that worsened over the trip.
• You had to find a backpack and pants for Juncker at a mall in Puerto Montt - no WiFi, no map.
• You had to navigate to a city you'd never been to, locate the apartment, all without WiFi.
• Juncker was happy and unaware the whole time.
• The first few days Juncker didn't speak, so you taught every lesson and did every contact alone, and your voice gave out.

"Land of miracles" framing

Coyhaique is "absolutely gorgeous - imagine Provo Canyon, then better." Andes mountains, Patagonia, near the Argentine border. Everyone you meet listens, and the ones who say no are kind about it. The branch is small but strong - "an incredible branch, better than my last ward." They have activities all the time, support the missionary work, all the active members come to church. Even with most members at the Concepción temple on Sunday, the spirit of the branch was already evident to you. Goal: three baptisms this transfer. One date already set, second expected tomorrow.

Hermana Hansen drops by

Hermana Hansen (Aysén zone leader) was in town with you and got pulled onto the video call. Highlights:

• She told you to tell me that she is your "best hermana leader" - "partially true," per you.
• Asked me whether I was your dad or your brother (favorite line).
• Gave you the Chilean nickname "Watón" - colloquial for "pot-bellied" / "plump" / "big back." Hansen calls everyone Watón. Hansen calls her own companion the same.
• Hansen's current companion is from Peru and is going home in April; she extended one transfer. Latina sisters can extend because their CCM stay is only ~3 weeks (vs. ~9 for English speakers), so they often hit 19 months of field time.

Mate vs. terere - the Word of Wisdom debate

You explained to me that the local drink is sometimes mate (hot) and sometimes terere (cold, often with juice - apple is your favorite). Mom has been making pointed comments treating mate as Word-of-Wisdom-adjacent.

My middle position: it isn't Word of Wisdom, but it does look uncomfortably similar to tea brewing if you're a Utah-raised mom seeing it for the first time. I affirmed you - you're not doing anything wrong - and validated the cultural-distance discomfort separately.

Branch service - the Concepción temple trip

Your first Sunday in Coyhaique branch: ~20 people because most of the active members were on a temple trip to the Concepción Chile Temple. You played piano; one woman sang.

Presidente Mackay - "second dad"

"I love President with all of my heart. That man is like a second dad to me."

Mackay's youngest daughter just left on a mission to Argentina. I joked that based on Mackay's age (probably ten years older than me) he's "doing more successfully in life" than I am.

Mission trivia and tics

• You met Brian Miller's nephew in the mission. Brian had texted me about his nephew going to Puerto Montt. You meant to take a picture and didn't - "I just didn't care enough."
• You picked up "fetch" as a verbal tic the last two weeks of the previous transfer and can't shake it. You're now using it like a Utah RM. I said: "I don't even say fetch. Because it's only RMs from Utah that say it and you're Samoan, so it doesn't count for you."

Spanish study, or the lack thereof

You confessed you haven't done formal Spanish study in a while - instead you read in Spanish, write in your journal in Spanish, or do Duolingo for Portuguese. I reframed: you're still studying Spanish, just more practical and less technical. You also admitted you're "Spanglishing" mid-conversation in English now - you'll start in English, switch to Spanish, lose your trainee, and only realize when you see Juncker's confused face.

Three Amigos aside

You challenged me on my Spanish ("Who taught you the word guapo?"). Me: El película Los Tres Amigos - Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Martin Short. I pulled it up on my screen. You recognized Steve Martin from Father of the Bride.

Pre-mission peer - brief revisit

You briefly asked whether you should follow up on last week's email exchange. Plan from last week stands: don't worry about it now; address it when you have bandwidth.

Closing

You returned to your hermanas. Sign-off.

Cleanup Notes

• "Armona junk" / "armana junker": Hermana Juncker. Standard.
• "Watón" - Hansen's nickname for you: Confirmed colloquial Chilean for pot-bellied/plump; Hansen uses it for everyone (including her own companion). Cleaned spelling. Glossary term.
• "Mona Noasco": Garbled. Skipped from cleaned.
• Mate vs. terere: Cleaned to canonical Spanish spellings. Terere is a cold infusion of yerba mate originally Paraguayan, often made with juice; your confirmed prep is with apple juice.
• "Brian Miller's nephew": Mentioned in passing. No first name given. Glossary entry added (under Herriman/family-friend connections).
• Pre-mission peer thread: Generalized per my standing direction. No wiki layer for the people involved.
• "Yes. He's like unbuckling his age": Your "unbuckling" → likely "about a decade older." Garbled phrasing cleaned for meaning.